Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Camino 2013 - Day 24: Calzada Del Coto To Reliegos

I woke this morning and my feet felt great. The mattress I'd slept sagged a bit and my feet had been elevated most of the night and, apparently, that is what my feet needed.

We left this morning with a companion. Js, who we met yesterday, joined us. Over the last twenty-three days Gv and I had pretty much shared all our stories so it was nice to have someone else's stories to hear as we walked this part of the original Roman Camino. Walking and talking with someone always helps to distract you and help the time go by faster. This was a good thing since this section was long and the day started out with heavy overcast.

A sign indicating the original roman road.

We would pass through only one town along this stage, Calzadilla de los Hermanillos, where we would stop for an awesome breakfast at a friendly albergue and resupply at a small store. I was already starting to drag so I gave in and bought a tube of principes (tube number two I believe). We ran into a few pilgrims here who had stayed the night in the town. We'd seen this group on and off since Burgos. These four pilgrims would be the only ones we saw all day. This section is not traveled much anymore which is a shame.

The long and not winding road ahead of us.

After Calzadilla de los Hermanillos the Camino passes through farm fields, and nothing much else, for the next 18 kilometers (11.2 miles). This would be the longest single stretch without a town along the entire Camino. We were hoping to find a place to rest near a train depot that was supposed to be next to the Camino. The depot was associated with a town we could just barely see on the horizon and the train stopped here very infrequently ... if ever. We found the depot but it was off the Camino a bit, inconvenient to get to, and totally falling apart. No chance to rest here.

Watch out for the train ... that doesn't stop here anymore.

By the time we got to Reliegos I was beat. This had felt like a very long day despite the principe cookies (it didn't help that I dropped two in the mud). I was happy to get to town and into an albergue. By the time we got to the town the sun finally made an appearance.

We did our chores and headed to a cafe/bar called the Bar Elvis. The place was interesting with graffiti all over the walls. We bought some lunch and relaxed in the sun as we ate.

The graffiti covered walls of Bar Elvis in Reliegos.

That afternoon we rested and I treated my feet with Gv's help. I'd loosened my shoe laces a bit this morning and this helped make my heals feel better but it also resulted in toe blisters including a nasty one under the third toenail on my left foot. It seems everything I did to improve my feet helped one problem while creating another.

We ate in a restaurant on the small city square that evening before returning to the albergue to chat with other pilgrims. We collected our nearly dry clothes (minus a pair of Gv's underwear that mysteriously vanished) before heading for bed. The overcast/drizzly/rainy weather was slowing down the drying process all along the Camino. At times it would take two or three days for something to dry out completely.

A few days earlier we'd decided we needed a break. We decided that León, our next destination, would be our rest stop. After twenty-four days of walking (twenty-five counting tomorrow) my body was ready for a rest and I went to sleep anticipating the day of rest that was coming.